During a recent Thursday night out, Cort Harlow and Ryan Kates could have easily looked the part
at any Short North spot — a trendy pub, perhaps, or a loud sushi bar.

The two were focused instead on crafting a medieval French landscape of roads, farms and
fortresses while strategically positioning their respective “knights” and “thieves” across
unguarded turf to score points.

Figures from the association underscore the point: In each of the past three years, Ward said,
sales of specialty board games have increased 25 percent.

Also indicative is the rising attendance in recent years at the Origins Game Fair, conducted
each summer since 1996 at the Greater Columbus Convention Center.

In June, the event hosted 11,573 guests and 300-plus exhibitors.

Other signs are also noteworthy.

Since 2011, the fantasy role-playing card game Magic: The Gathering — a property acquired in
1999 by toy giant Hasbro — outsold company staples such as Monopoly, Sorry! and Scrabble. More
recently, the game-maker and 20th Century Fox announced plans for a forthcoming Magic-themed
movie.

The colony-building Settlers of Catan franchise, once a niche title, is now sold at Walmart.

Perhaps most curious, gaming projects last year represented the No. 1 income category on
Kickstarter, attracting $200 million in so-called crowd funding to give life to various independent
game concepts.

“Gamers spend money,” said Tracy Barnett, 33, of the North Side, who has raised more than
$18,000 through Kickstarter to produce three games, whose settings range from skeleton battlefields
to high-school hallways.

“Gaming is so personal to a lot of people.”

George “Bud” Sauer has seen the evolution, too.

In 1992, he and a friend founded the Columbus Area Boardgaming Society, a social club whose
membership to date exceeds 400 people.

“Growth has been phenomenal,” said Sauer, who noted that women make up as much as a third of the
turnout at the group’s twice-monthly gatherings in Worthington. (A third event was recently added
to help teach novice players; it takes place on the last Saturday of each month, with a meeting
planned for today.)

The Guardtower, an established West Side gaming shop that also offers table space for players,
posted its strongest sales year yet in 2013, manager Todd Chabucos said.

“It’s nerd chic,” he said.

At both the Guardtower and Kingmakers, most of the board-game concepts — originally developed
abroad — are commonly known as “German-style” or “Euro” games.

Although their intricate pieces and packaging make the offerings seem complex, gaming
enthusiasts say they can be grasped quickly and completed in about an hour.

Another upside: “There’s no luck involved at all,” said Ohio State University graduate student
Matthew Record, 29, one of Kingmakers’ trained “board-game sommeliers” — a tongue-in-cheek nod to
wine stewards — who not only serve patrons food and beverages but also recommend and explain games
from among a library of 250 titles.

“Literally nothing happens unless the players make it happen.”

For a $5 all-you-canplay fee, guests might try a fantasy-based game that centers on the shipping
trade (Puerto Rico) or compels them to act as utilities magnates (Power Plant) or control railroad
routes (Ticket To Ride) — or tackle all three.

In the spirit of the games, particularly when the Kingmakers space fills to its 60-seat
capacity, strangers might buddy up for an impromptu match.

De Silva — a graduate of the OSU College of Business who, inspired by similar gaming bars in
Toronto and New York, left a corporate retail job in San Francisco to launch Kingmakers — has
worked to foster an inclusive atmosphere at the new lounge, which features indie rock via stereo
and craft beer in mason jars.

“Everything we’ve done is to perpetuate expanding this audience,” she said.

Matthew Freimark, an OSU junior and the president of the university’s Board to Death gaming
society — which attracts 60 to 70 players to weekly get-togethers — is doing his part to eradicate
labels.

Freimark, 21, recently persuaded his three roommates to join in an identity-deception game
called The Resistance.

“They weren’t exactly the most supportive,” he said, noting that their hesitation has since
changed to fandom.

“There is a nerd connotation around these games, but that’s breaking down really quickly.”